Union Minister Nitin Gadkari today held meeting via video conferencing with the members of Maha Solar Sangathan to understand the opportunities in the solar energy sector. The Minister highlighted the importance of solar energy and said the sector has huge potential and can help to reduce the electricity cost significantly.

He further mentioned that sectors such as agriculture and warehousing are energy extensive sectors and proper commercial use of solar energy can contribute towards reducing power cost.

The Minister emphasized the need of export enhancement along with import substitution to replace foreign imports with domestic production. He encouraged manufacturers to make India self-reliant with the help of “Make in India” products.

Mr Gadkari mentioned that for providing much-needed impetus to the MSME sector to deal with the current economic instability, the government has announced several measures under Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan. These include collateral free automatic loan, which will allow the MSMEs to enhance working capital by 20 per cent without providing additional collateral.